


Wavelengths

by Mitchellsfingerlessgloves



Category: Fantastic Four (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Awkward Reed, BAMF Sue, Ben the Gym Teacher, Cute Johnny, F/M, Fluff, High School, M/M, Reed the Physics Teacher, Smooth af Ben
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-07
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 22:48:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5946184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mitchellsfingerlessgloves/pseuds/Mitchellsfingerlessgloves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben is a new teacher at Baxter High. Reed is, per usual, awkward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wavelengths

“You missed meeting the new guy,” Sue said as soon as Reed slipped into his seat next to her. He had been late (surprise, surprise) on the first day of term, and the blonde woman was looking at him with a mix of amusement and anguish.

“New guy?” Reed questioned breathlessly, before the email that had been sent to him a week ago reappeared in his memory. One of the gym teachers was on maternity leave, and so her replacement was to start alongside them once the school year began again.

“Mr. Grimm?” Sue nudged, picking at the croissant in her hands. When Reed nodded, she popped a piece in her mouth, then holding out the baked good for her friend. Subconsciously, be broke a piece off and chewed on it thoughtfully.

“He’s cute,” Sue said, raising an eyebrow knowingly. 

Reed hummed lightly, reaching over and breaking off another piece of the croissant and ignoring Sue’s slightly exasperated sigh.

“Your type,” she pushed, and Reed turned to her, pushing his glasses up his nose as they began to slide off.

“Whatever, Sue,” he muttered, attempting to ignore as she described the new teacher, thankful that they were two of only a few other teachers in the staffroom, and that none of the others were paying them any attention.

*

As it was, Sue hadn’t done the new teacher any justice, _at all_.

The man wasn’t merely Reed’s type; he was an Adonis.

Well, not quite, but it was difficult to ignore how attractive the man was.

He was short (well, shorter than Reed was, which wasn’t difficult, given the physics teacher’s height) but he was well-built and muscular, with a sharp jaw, long nose and mussed, blond hair.

“Hi, I’m Ben Grimm,” said new teacher had introduced himself, holding out a hand for Reed. 

The darker haired man had stared at the hand for a moment longer than necessary before reaching down and shaking it vigorously. If he was put off, Ben took the exuberant welcome in good stead, chuckling lightly and shifting from trainer-clad foot to trainer-clad foot.

“I’m not sure we’ve met yet,” Ben continued, and he had a nice voice, Reed decided. “I’m the new gym teacher?”

“Oh, yeah!” Reed agreed, nodding his head. His satchel began slipping off his shoulder, and he reached over to prab the strap before it fell off completely. “Yeah, I’m Reed Richards- I teach physics.”

“Cool,” Ben nodded, a small smile on his lips. “Physics is cool. Hard, though.”

Reed shook his head. “Oh no! Physics is really accessible, I find- and it’s so fascinating, I think anyone can do it, really-” the brunet cut himself off at the cool look that passed over Ben’s face, instantly assuming that he was boring (or just freaking out) the other man. Somewhat disappointed, Reed shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s all right,” he concluded, looking through the smudged lenses of his glasses and into the blue eyes of his companion.

“It’s great you’re so passionate about your subject,” Ben said, and Reed’s heart instantly began hammering in his chest. 

“R- really?” Reed stammered, cursing himself mentally at his stumble. As it was, Ben ignored it in favour of nodding his approval at the taller man.

“Yeah,” he said, voice soft. “I think it’s awesome when teachers care so much. It inspires the students a lot more.”

“Yeah,” Reed agreed, his own voice low. “I like to think so.”

Ben glanced over at the clock on the wall and cursed under his breath. “Well, I’d better go: I’ve got a class to set up for. It was nice talking to you, though; see you later?”

“At lunch?” Reed instantly uttered, filter clearly not functioning up to its usual (already sub-par) standard. 

Ben smiled again and nodded. “At lunch. I guess I’ll see you in the staffroom.”

With that, the blond man nodded again and turned away, descending the stairs quickly and making his way across the hallway. Reed wouldn’t pretend that he didn’t take the opportunity to ogle slightly at the attractive man, although his arse was somewhat obscured by the baggy sweatshirt he wore.

He still grinned all the way up to the physics labs, barely apologising to his class as he strolled in, five minutes late.

*

“The new gym teacher? Yeah, he’s cool,” Johnny said, eyes fixed on Reed as he bit into his sandwich. The two of them, as well as Sue and Victor, were sitting at the table in the corner of the room they had claimed their own when they became friends. The two Storms had always sat there, welcoming Victor to their group the year after, and accepting Reed when he finally joined after another couple of years.

Three years on, and they were going to be adding another to their party, if Reed had anything to do with it.

“You invited him to sit with us,” Victor said, voice low. Sue rolled his eyes at the maths teacher, elbowing him obviously in the ribs and muttering something quietly to him.

“Yeah,” Reed said, slipping off his glasses and wiping them on his tie. Victor fixed him with a hard stare that Reed had long since become immune to and the physicist turned around face the door, hopeful that the blond man would join them soon.

“Lunch only started ten minutes ago,” Sue supplied helpfully. Johnny nodded, taking another large bite of his sandwich and chewing sloppily.

“You’re disgusting,” Victor said with a sneer, to which Johnny responded with by chewing obnoxiously loudly.

“You’re both so annoying-” Sue began, but got cut off as a voice from behind said: “Mind if I join you guys?”

Reed whirled around so fast he almost got whiplash and offered Ben a large smile, probably unwarranted for the man he’d only met a few hours ago.

“Sure,” Sue said, upon realising that Reed wasn’t going to say anything. She shifted so she was pressed closer to Victor and reached around the grab an unused chair from the table behind them, settling it comfortably between her and Reed.

“Thanks,” he said with a dazzling smile, and Reed really didn’t need that in his life.

Conversation was easy between the five of them, all of them laughing and swapping anecdotes as though there wasn’t a new member of the group.

Ben was charismatic and funny, but also an exceptionally good listener, who knew all of the cues to add comments to someone’s story, and even faked a laugh at one of Reed’s physics puns.

In all of Reed’s twenty nine years, he had never met a more perfect man. 

As they spoke, it became more and more obvious that Reed was only truly interested in talking to Ben, and (somehow) the blond man seemed to reciprocate those feelings, acting more interested in what the dark-haired, bespectacled man was saying, even when Johnny spoke about all of his racing accidents from when he was younger.

Eventually, the other three members of the group departed, leaving the two men to continue their discussion well into the lunch period, inching closer and closer to each other as they spoke. 

By the time the bell rung, signifying that they needed to get back to their classrooms as lessons were to begin shortly, Reed could have counted the freckles on Ben’s nose. He ultimately decided against it, if only to leave the endeavour for a later date.

“It was really nice talking to you, Reed,” Ben said as they rose from their seats.

Reed was moving slowly, reluctant to leave the man even after nearly an hour of non-stop chatter. The more he got to know Ben, the cuter the man became, and the more time Reed wanted to spend around him.

“You too,” Reed offered, clearly his rubbish from the table and making his way to the bin to throw it away. Ben walked with him, his own cartons and wrappers crushed in large hands before he tossed them away.

“Maybe we could grab coffee sometime, or something?” Ben suggested. He looked wary, although his voice gave away nothing.

Reed, on the other hand, instantly exclaimed, “Sure! I’d love to. Um, tonight?”

“Tonight?” Ben repeated, amusement evident in his voice and a sly smile that was incredibly sinful playing on his lips.

“Yeah,” Reed said, his nerves licking at his heels, although he pushed them down in an attempt to sound more confident. “If you’re free, that is.”

“Yeah, I’m free,” Ben said, reaching forward and holding onto Reed’s elbow gently. Through his suit jacket and dress shirt, Reed could feel the heat radiating from Ben’s hand. “Cool.”

“I’ll see you in front of the office?” Reed asked, and Ben nodded.

“I’ll see you there.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just thought: there are so few BenReed fics and I want to contribute a little something! I'm absolute trash for these two after watching the film, and I adore and hate these losers in equal measure.


End file.
